Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Over 150 wins and 7 championships in 3 different open wheel divisions.  Would credentials like this be considered Hall of Fame worthy?  I haven't named the driver or the track yet.  But just on these stats.....would you vote for him?

depends on teh open wheel divisions,  If he has 150 wins, but 149 of those are in Open Wheel Modifieds, he's not Sprint Car Hall of Fame worthy....

You need to break it down better...

Lets just say, for the sake of discussion.... that said driver had all of these in some sort of sprintcar...or every sort of sprintcar, ....and that several of these wins were against national touring series or at non sanctioned events that had 5 figure paychecks..at some very historic tracks and races..and in case it matters.... would said driver be more worthy of a nod if he actually worked his butt off to get where he was instead of being born into a fortune...what if said driver did it with very little help...maybe one mechanic who was a friend first, not a hired wrench....and said driver was always building his cars, driving the transporter, crossing the country overnight to jump into another car...etc

And what if all of this was accomplished in a 10-12 year career.....

I can't even believe there would have to be any discussion or consideration about said driver being inducted...looks to me like it should be a no brainer....anxious to see how many people on here agree or disagree....hypothetically speaking.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

The induction of Mike Peters should also be a no brainer. 

He had 2 track championships in super modifieds, 3 track championships in midgets, and 2 track championships in sprint cars.  This is at one track.  I'm not even bringing up the numerous other wins at other tracks.  He obviously was a winner in whatever type of car he got in.  What does it take to get into the Hall of Fame?

I believe we are talking about 2 different drivers.....but both are certainly worthy in my opinion.

Yeah apparently we are....I would think your guy has earned a nomination...and I'm pretty sure you would agree that my guy has too.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

That entirely depends on the competition. Winning a track championship at some places is as easy as just making every A main. Hall of fame credentials need to be stout or the honor has no weight.

Cheers!

The track was Manzanita Speedway.  The driver was "Tiger" Gene Brown.  Back in the 60's and 70's Manzy was the most competitive track in the west.  Winning meant you beat some pretty respectable drivers...a few future hall of famers.  That is why I question why Gene Brown isn't in the hall.  His stats far outshine many who are already in.  Gene's biggest knock is that he didn't want to travel the country and be away from his family.  He had many, many opportunites to go run the circuits but it just wasn't for him.  He was a family man and a business owner.  It is an absolute injustice that he is not in the hall.  Ask anyone who raced Manzy, Tucson, or Ascot back in that era and they will tell you Gene Brown was the best in the west in his day.

I hope to meet up with Eckert this fall and try and get more substantial stats to go along with his nomination to the hall for next year.  I wish I knew who all the voting members were.  I would send them a portfolio of Gene's career that would be hard to vote against.  He deserves to be enshrined along side the very best in our sport.

Send a one page bio on Gene's career to Bob Baker at the HoF and all voting members will receive it this fall...

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I totally agree that Gene Brown should be in the HOF.  I am surprised that he isn't.  I am surprised as well that Mike Peters is not there also.

I definately agree that Mike Peters should be in the Hall of Fame. I dont know Gene Brown but i'm sure if you watched him race weekly and dominate at Manzanita you should think he should be inducted.

What about Ralph Parkinson, ran all over the US, in sprints and midgets, and won IMCA sprint champ(1976) and approx 300 features, over the many year sucessful career.

Mike was one of them old NCRA super mod. drivers back in the day when they would have at the least 40 cars in the pits and MOST of the time 50 to 60. Hahn, Leep, Crawford, Armstrong, Stone, Frusher, Reed, Copeland and the list went on and on from there, a very tough feild of cars and drivers.  Mike was always a headliner at these events, and is still at it today and does very well for his age!!

Unless someone gets a fact sheet to Bob Baker, if the nominating committee isn't familiar with them, they'll never be on the ballot.

The bigger problem I see is this, if I use the same criteria, I know a driver with 6 track championships against stout competition @ Knoxville that I personally like, but don't feel that they are Sprint Car Hall of Fame worthy (Randy Smith).

I'm not 100% sure that Terry McCarl is Hall of Fame worthy either, and his credentials are as good if not better than Gene Browns (he has raced Nationally, and with the All-Stars and WoO and won races in 27 states I think it is.

It's not so much the driver your nominating as who they are against in the voting process.  Since they are now inducting less members every year, you have to REALLY STAND OUT amongst your competition to get enshrined.

Drivers that are Hall of Fame worthy that are not yet inducted (some may not be eligble yet (Dave Blaney, Dale Blaney (will have more All-Star wins then Kenny Jacobs by the end of this season probably and Kenny is enshrined), Donny Schatz (love him or hate him, his #'s back it up and is a first ballot Hall of Famer when he turns 50 in my estimation), Lance DeWease (see his #'s), Terry McCarl (like I said, I'm not sure, but maybe), plus the old-timers from years past that deserve to be inducted.  Gonna be a tough nut to crack in years to come....

I can't stand Terry McCarl but I think he is first ballot HOF'er when he turns 50. Very few drivers with more career accomplishments than him. All the drivers you mentioned I think are worthy. Randy Smith I'm not real familiar with, but 6 championships at Knoxville seems like a pretty good resume. One driver who I think is over 50 now that should get strong consideration is Donnie Kreitz.

A

What about California's Brian Crockett (Roger's father) ? He has about a dozen track championships and several hundred wins in sprint cars, modified sprints, and super modifieds on dirt.

It's gonna get tougher and tougher to be enshrined in years to come.....

And then there's always the argument for "Tiger" Bob Williams.

Agreed.  You're going to have to really stand out in the years to come.

How about a driver with 3 track championships in one year and 46 feature wins including a third in knoxville nationals

all in the same year . Also many other wins and chanpionships ranks 5th in Knoxville nationals competition years that he ran the nationals. Ran Stock cars on pavement and won a 300 lap race against the best at that time . Has been over looked to many times.   Under the format the hall of fame is using he has been overlooked because he ran primarly in   

the midwest. The man is Tiger Bob Williams from Independence Mo.